Ida Siekmann, first death at the Berlin Wall
Nine days after the border was sealed, the 58-year-old nurse jumped from her third-floor window onto the West Berlin pavement and died of her injuries.
Ida Siekmann, born in 1902, was a nurse who lived alone in a third-floor flat at Bernauer Straße 48. Her building was in East Berlin, but the pavement in front of it belonged to West Berlin.
The day before her escape she watched the entrance of her building being barricaded. Early on the morning of 22 August 1961, at about 6:50 a.m., she threw bedding and belongings out of the window and then jumped.
She was badly injured and died on the way to the nearby Lazarus Hospital, one day before her 59th birthday. She is considered the first person to die at the Berlin Wall. The district of Wedding put up a memorial at the spot in September 1961, and a memorial stone stands in Bernauer Straße today.
Sources
- Siekmann, IdaChronik der Mauer
- Die Bernauer StraßeStiftung Berliner Mauer
- Mahnmal Ida Siekmann in der Bernauer StraßeStiftung Berliner Mauer (Sammlung)
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